About Mary
Mary Widseth is a Licensed Professional Counselor who focuses on helping people understand themselves and the people around them. She uses straightforward, practical work to address anxiety, depression, relationship strain, and parenting challenges. Mary writes clearly and keeps sessions focused on real-life skills that people can use between meetings.
Mary holds a master's degree in Community Psychology and Rehabilitation Counseling and a bachelor's in Vocational Rehabilitation. She also completed a certificate in Autism.
Background and approach
Her background includes employment support work with adults who had cognitive, physical, or communication differences. That work involved on-the-job training, arranging placements, and coordinating with employers and support staff. After graduate school she provided in-home therapy for children ages 7 to 18 and their families for two years.
She then worked two more years in an office setting with adults and children. Her caseload has included people navigating gender diversity, addiction concerns, body-image changes after surgery, ADHD, and autism. She often addresses behavioral and emotional regulation, communication, and family dynamics.
Mary adapts tools to each person's needs. She uses client-centered conversations alongside techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, emotionally-focused work, and EMDR when appropriate. She is comfortable using picture-based communication and sign language when needed.
Sessions are offered from Minnesota and conducted in English. Mary brings seven years of clinical experience and a practical, problem-solving approach to help people manage stress, grief, trauma, and life transitions.
How Mary’s Approaches Translate to Online Work
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and following the person's goals. In online sessions this means the therapist sets a pace that fits the client's needs and centers conversations on what matters most to the client. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at thoughts and behaviors and teaches practical exercises people can do between sessions to reduce anxiety or depression. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, offers skill-based tools for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and improving communication, which are useful when feelings run high.Choosing the best approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the person about their goals, try methods that seem to fit, and adjust as progress is made. Decisions about techniques are based on what the client prefers and what works in their daily life.
Online therapy with video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging makes it easier to fit sessions into a busy schedule. Video lets people work face to face when helpful. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be a simpler option. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, skill practice, or when typing feels easier than speaking. These options aim to increase flexibility and make consistent support more accessible.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Hearing impaired
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English
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